Today begins Roadburn season — the hap-happiest season of all. The Netherlands-based festival begins the run toward Roadburn 2018 by announcing Godspeed You! Black Emperor will headline two nights, Jacob Bannon of Converge will curate as his band returns for two more full-album sets, Panopticon will play twice, Ivar Bjørnson of Enslaved and Einar Selvik of Wardruna will follow-up their performance of Skuggsjá in 2015 with Hugsjá, which sounds even cuddlier, UK psychedelic gurus The Heads will return, Bell Witch will play an album in full that, as of today, isn’t even out yet, and many, many more have been added.

In other words, Roadburn 2018 is a Roadburn. Tickets go on sale on Oct. 19 and will no doubt be gone if not immediately than shortly thereafter. It is my sincere hope, as always, to be at Roadburn come April. This would be my 10th time in Tilburg for the fest and it already looks like the kind of maddeningly complex avant-garde art-project gathering that has made past years so special.

More to come, of course. In the meantime, if you get to check it out, I wrote the announcement for The Heads, which was a lot of fun. Here’s that along with everything else for Roadburn 2018 so far:

GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR will perform two different sets as Saturday and Sunday headliners

JACOB BANNON confirmed as the 2018 curator

CONVERGE will perform two shows, including a You Fail Me set

Einar Selvik & Ivar Bjørnson will present HUGSJÁ for the first time outside of Norway

BELL WITCH will perform two sets including new album Mirror Reaper in full

PANOPTICON to make their Roadburn debut playing two different sets.

Roadburn’s official poster artist for 2018 is RICHEY BECKETT

Tickets will go on sale on October 19.

Roadburn Festival is proud to announce the first artists for the 2018 line up, which will take place at the 013 venue, Tilburg, The Netherlands between April 19-22.

Artistic Director, Walter Hoeijmakers commented:”At Roadburn, we’re always looking to push the envelope when it comes to working with creative and diverse artists; we’ll never settle for toeing the line. These first artists should give you an idea of the direction that Roadburn will be taking in 2018, but as ever, don’t assume you have us sussed – we always have more up our sleeve!”

GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR

Godspeed You! Black Emperor have slid smoothly into our collective consciousness, picked apart the very notion of what it means to be a band and teetered on the precipice between serenity and all out chaos. The diversity of their output and their ability to always keep us guessing is a big part of why having them perform two headlining sets at Roadburn feels like a natural fit.

Their varied back catalogue makes for rich pickings, should they choose to cycle back through previous representations of the band; should they opt to look forward, into the unknown, we await with baited breath to see what is delivered during their two separate performances. Their live shows are renowned for being all-encompassing, immersive experiences, where even the visual aspect is overwhelming, usually including film projection performances that gain as much impact to the overall event as the music itself, the two interwoven as one. No doubt their Roadburn performances will be ones for the history books.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor will perform at the 013 venue on Saturday, 21 April and Sunday, 22 April. Read more here.

2018 CURATOR: JACOB BANNON

When Converge performed two groundbreaking sets at Roadburn 2016, followed by Jacob’s Wear Your Wounds set at Roadburn 2017, we knew we’d found a kindred spirit. Known not only for his audio output, but also for his visual art and founding role in Deathwish Inc; Bannon’s influence is broad and his Roadburn wish list is very much in tune with our own visions.

Jacob commented: “It is an honor to be working as the curator for Roadburn Festival 2018. The festival is unlike any other, showcasing the most forward thinking artists and musicians of the heavy music world. As this year’s curator I will reach across its sub-genres to bring together an array incredible bands/musicians; expanding the reach of the festival while celebrating the world of extreme music that we all love.”

Jacob Bannon will curate the main stage at the 013 venue on Friday, 20 April, and Het Patronaat on Saturday, 21 April. Read more here.

CONVERGE

The aforementioned Converge sets in 2016 were something truly special to behold. The Blood Moon set – which featured Chelsea Wolfe, Steve Von Till and Stephen Brodsky – will go down in Roadburn history, and the one-off Jane Doe set has already been committed to record such was the impact of the performance.

The relationship between Converge and Roadburn is far from over, and we’re thrilled that these four incredible musicians will return to the Roadburn stage for two essential sets in 2018.

Jacob Bannon elaborates on the performances: “In 2016, we played our Jane Doe album in its entirety at Roadburn Festival. For our 2018 return, we will perform our album You Fail Me in its entirety. Originally released in 2004, this album marked a turning point for our band internally and in many ways it is considered the beginning of the modern era of our band. This performance will be a one time only event, exclusive to Roadburn.”

“It took our band nearly five years to cut and shape our most recent album The Dusk In Us. Scheduled for release on November 3rd through Epitaph and Deathwish, it is a very emotional album for the band. All four of us went through a lot of trials and tribulations in those years and it is reflected in those songs, connecting with our lives ways hard to put into words. It will be an honor to play this material in its entirety for the Roadburn audience. We hope it will be as special for you as it will be for us.”

Converge will play The Dusk In Us on Thursday, 19 April, and You Fail Me on Friday, 20 April at the 013 venue, Tilburg, The Netherlands. Read more here.

HUGSJÁ

This new collaborative musical piece is designed by former Roadburn curators, Ivar Bjørnson and Einar Selvik, combining indigenous and contemporary music with Norse and Norwegian poetry, accompanied by instruments from the Stone Age through to the present day. It’s set to be a monumental follow up to Skuggjá’s international premiere at Roadburn 2015.

A series of concerts named Nordvegen (‘the northern road’ – an ancient shipping route connecting Norway to the rest of the world for some 3000 years), was performed in four harbors along the west coast of Norway in late May and early June of 2017. The audience was taken on a spectacular journey along this route in a musical declaration of love to Norwegian coastal culture and Norse history. The concerts were inspired by local history in each of these places. The Nordvegen concerts created an acoustic and intimate basis for the grandiose commissioned work, Hugsjá, which received its world premiere in Bergen concert hall Grieghallen on May 31st. Originally commissioned by and performed at Bergen International Festival, the piece will now sail southwards to Roadburn 2018.

Einar & Ivar will also be taking part in a “guided tour” of Hugsjá; explaining more about the origins of the composition, and taking questions from the audience.

Hugsjá will be performed on Saturday, 21 April at the 013 venue. Read more here.

BELL WITCH

Although it’s not yet released, the upcoming 83-minute album from Bell Witch, titled Mirror Reaper, is already making waves on Planet Roadburn. Recreating the record in all it’s crushingly exquisite glory requires the input of Erik Moggridge (Aerial Ruin), who we are delighted to welcome to Roadburn to complete the performance of Mirror Reaper.

As Moggridge has appeared on all Bell Witch releases to date in some capacity, we are thrilled that Bell Witch have agreed to perform a second set of music with him. Expect his fragile yet evocative vocal style to lend an even more ghastly and ethereal quality to Bell Witch’s already otherworldly sound.

Bell Witch will perform on Saturday 21 April at the 013 venue and Sunday, 22 April at Het Patronaat. Read more here.

PANOPTICON

For the past decade, Austin Lunn has created some of the most evocative and personal American black metal in relative isolation. With only a few shows under their belt, the band has astounded and delighted with each appearance in their short live tenure. To make this Roadburn appearance even more special, we’ll be treated to two separate sets during the festival.

Panopticon will perform selected songs from a new double album entitled The Scars of Man on the Once Nameless Wilderness during one set, and a career spanning selection of tracks will be performed during the other. From the rawer, vicious material compiled on the early …On the Subject of Mortality collection to the groundbreaking bluegrass-heavy Kentucky to the shimmering melody and majesty of recent releases Roads to the North and Autumn Eternal – this is a rare treat and we can’t wait to feel the soot and smoke in our hearts and heads as Panopticon levels the venue.

Panopticon will perform at Het Patronaat on Friday, 19 April, and the 013 venue on Saturday, 20 April. Read more here.

EX EYE

When word got out that master saxophonist Colin Stetson had put a new metal band together called Ex Eye, excitement levels were high. The relentlessness of the band’s assault, the enormity of its scope and the unbound energy they exhale means that they make music that might skip your brain altogether and activate your nervous extremities all by itself. Just seeing a legendary figure like Colin on stage playing metal would be satisfying enough; that he’s recruited people like Liturgy’s Greg Fox on drums, bassist Shahzad Ismaily (who’s played with the mighty Secret Chiefs 3) and guitarist/composer Toby Summerfield to complete this stellar line-up is just icing on the cake.

Ex Eye will perform at the 013 venue on Thursday, 19 April. Read more here.

THE HEADS

The Heads have a special place in the history of Roadburn. Not just because the UK psych lords have made multiple visits over the years – 2006, 2008, artists-in-residence in 2015 – but for the transformative effect their sets have had on the crowds, the vibe, the very fest itself. Nobody takes Roadburn to where The Heads take Roadburn.

“Roadburn is the best festival The Heads have played,” enthuses guitarist/vocalist Simon Price. “The vibes, the crowds, the bands, the organisation; it’s the whole package. Roadburn always delivers. Playing on stage or just wandering around, it makes me grin. It is The Heads’ spiritual home. We can’t wait to bring it on again in 2018.”

The Heads will perform at the 013 venue on Saturday, 21 April. Read more here.

IGORRR

The brainchild of French composer and multi-instrumentist Gautier Serre, IGORRR is genuinely disorienting. One of the most excitingly unpredictable acts in any genre you might want to try and shove them into, its wild character and fearless will to experiment are the staples of the sort of creativity we fiercely stand behind at Roadburn. What choice did we have but to bring this wrecking ball of delirious creativity to Roadburn and see and hear for ourselves how it all translates to the stage with a full band playing it?

Igorrr will perform on Friday, April 20 at the 013 venue. Read more here.

AERIAL RUIN

Aerial Ruin – AKA Erik Moggridge – may be best known to many on the basis of his frequent appearances on albums by the mighty Bell Witch, but his own project displays a remarkable sense of texture and delicacy that is equal in its melancholy yet entirely independent. Aerial Ruin’s recently released Nameless Sun beautifully follows the tradition set forth on its predecessor Ash of Your Cares in offering up eerie acoustic confessionals that can raise the hairs on the back of your neck. Moggridge plays guitar with the precision of a spider slowly building its web; everything falls into place delicately yet with a brilliant and focused grace.

Aerial Ruin will perform on Saturday, April 21 at the 013 venue. Read more here.

SANGRE DE MUERDAGO

Led by Pablo C. Ursusson, a musician and lyricist who has also done work in painting and sculpture, Sangre de Muerdago is deeply connected to the very earth of their Galicia homeland. With a background in Spanish punk and other kinds of countercultural movements, the band is the vehicle through which these musicians leave the harshness and aggression aside and channel the folk tales of Galicia through traditional instruments and gentle, haunting, ancient-sounding singing.

Sangre de Muerdago will perform at Het Patronaat on Friday, 20 April. Read more here.

RICHEY BECKETT

Having made a dent in the Roadburn psyche earlier this year when he took part in the Full Bleed art exhibition at the 2017 edition of the festival, Richey Beckett will be returning next year. This time he will be our official poster artist, creating the artwork that will adorn our posters and merchandise for the 2018 edition.

Based in South Wales, Beckett is a highly talented artist with his roots firmly planted in the natural world, where he draws much of his inspiration from.

Beckett comments: “Being invited to create visual artwork for this year’s Roadburn is a tremendous honour. Roadburn isn’t just another heavy music festival, it’s something that over the years has evolved into a pilgrimage of a worldwide community; a celebration of music, the creative spirit and camaraderie.”Read more about Richey Beckett here.

TICKET ONSALE DATE

Roadburn 2018 tickets will go on sale on October 19. They will be available to purchase in person from the 013 box office from 18.30- 20.30 local time, and online worldwide from 21.00 CEST. Ahead of the tickets going onsale, we will be able to confirm more details of the line up, plus camping options in Tilburg during the festival.

We press on with the Quarterly Review and writeups #41-50 of the total 60 to be featured. Some considerable names in this batch, as I suppose there have been all along, but one of the functions this feature has come to serve is to allow me a space to offer some comment on bigger records that, let’s be frank, are being covered everywhere in the universe, while fleshing out coverage elsewhere of things like bands’ debuts and some other less-ubiquitous offerings. That’s become the idea anyway. Doesn’t always go like that, but it’s kind of a relief to have somewhere I can put the extra 200 reviews per year rather than miss out. We’ll wrap this one up on Monday, but just because it’s the end of the week and because it’s my general sentiment, thanks for reading.

Quarterly Review #41-50:

40 Watt Sun, Wider than the Sky

With their second album, the awaited Wider than the Sky, London’s 40 Watt Sun continue to be defined by their depressive expressionism. The six-track/62-minute follow-up to 2011’s The Inside Room (review here) finds guitarist/vocalist Patrick Walker (ex-Warning), bassist William Spong and drummer Christian Leitch opening with the longest inclusion (immediate points) in the gorgeously mournful 16-minute unfolding of “Stages.” Sonically lush but still somehow raw and minimal in its emotionality, a slow drear sets the tone for what will follow in “Beyond You” and “Another Room,” “Pictures and “Craven Road,” which alternate on either side of the 10-minute mark until closer “Marazion” (3:57) seems to resonate a less-hopeless spirit. More than The Inside Room, Wider than the Sky realizes itself in emotional rather than tonal weight, and while one often identifies these feelings with things cold and grey, it would require a willful blindness not to recognize the humanity and warmth coming through in Walker’s delivery of this material. Wide it may be, but not at all distant.

Worm Ouroboros, What Graceless Dawn

The duality of Worm Ouroboros’ third album for Profound Lore, What Graceless Dawn, is almost as prevalent as the irony that its title should include the word “graceless” when the 63-minute six-tracker itself is so melodically poised. It’s dark, but hopeful, spacious and compact, challenging but simply and often minimally arranged, patient and emotionally intense, and heavy even as it seems to float from one extended piece to the next on a current of intertwining, nigh-operatic vocals from bassist Lorraine Rath (ex-Amber Asylum) and guitarist Jessica Way (World Eater) while Aesop Dekker (Agalloch, Vhöl) seems just as comfortable in the quiet midsection stretch of 13-minute centerpiece “Ribbon of Shadow” as in the rumbling payoff of “Suffering Tree” just before. Running from opener “Day” to closer “Night,” What Graceless Dawn is nothing if not coherent, and while the band’s core approach has been largely consistent across their 2010 self-titled debut (review here) and 2012’s Come the Thaw, the Bay Area trio maintain a clear commitment to forward-moving artistry that stirs the consciousness.

The Heads, Burning up With: Live at Roadburn 2015

I was fortunate enough to be there when UK heavy psych legends The Heads played the Main Stage set at Roadburn 2015 captured on the Burning World Records release Burning up With…, and indeed the preservation of the band’s utter liquefaction of that large room is well worth preserving across the four sides of a double-LP. The only drawback to a vinyl version of their set is that while the individual songs are presented as side-consuming medleys – “Cardinal Fuzz/KRT,” “Gnu/Legevaan Sattelite/U33,” and so on – that still requires some measure of break to flip from one to the next, whereas in the all-at-once linearity of a CD or digital listen, one finds the overwhelming lysergic proceedings intact as they were from the stage, gloriously molten and entrancingly jammed out by the longtime masters of the form. I won’t even attempt to give its spaciousness a proper assessment since just about anything The Heads do is a gift defying impartiality, especially something like this, but yeah, get on it.

Jason Simon, Familiar Haunts

Back in 2010, Dead Meadow frontman Jason Simon released an eponymous solo debut on Tee Pee that found him working in a folkish sphere, and his six-years-later follow-up, Familiar Haunts (on Tekeli-Li, Cardinal Fuzz, Burger Records and Blind Blind Tiger), has some of those elements as well on the twanging, finger-plucking “Pretty Polly” and subdued strum of “Seven Sisters of Sleep,” but Simon has also assembled a four-piece band here, and from the pickup of opener “The People Dance, the People Sing,” through the fuzz experimentalism of “Now I’m Telling You” and the airy linear build of the penultimate 11-minute highlight “Wheels Will Spin,” there’s no lack of fullness in the sound. One finds a particularly engaging blend on “Hills of Mexico,” a six-minute rambler that fluidly brings together neofolk and desert ambience, though as Simon and company play sounds off each other in this material, “engaging blend” would seem to be the underlying theme of Familiar Haunts as a whole.

Danava, At Midnight You Die

Over a decade removed from their 2006 self-titled debut and five years past their third album, 2011’s Hemisphere of Shadows, one might easily argue that Portland, Oregon’s Danava are due for a full-length release. Sure, the band led by guitarist/vocalist Gregory Meleny have toured plenty in that time in the US and abroad, put out splits and so on, and that has consistently and organically grown their fanbase. Sating that fanbase would seem to be the motivation behind the two-song 7” At Midnight You Die (on Tee Pee), on which the titular A-side finds the four-piece making the most of their dual guitars – Meleny and Pete Hughes (Sons of Huns) shredding in proto-NWOBHM fashion – while the B-side takes on the bizarre and foreboding folk ambience of “My Spirit Runs Free,” short at three minutes, acoustic and sourced from 1979’s The Capture of Bigfoot. So yeah, it’s like that. No new record, but a ripper and some delightful weirdness on hand, and I suspect at this point many of their followers will take what they can get.

Pylar, Pyedra

Some bands are just on their own wavelength, and as much as one might be tempted to relate Sevilla’s Pylar to SunnO))) with their robes and their drones, the Spanish troupe’s four-track full-length, Pyedra (on Alone Records), sees them emitting a slew of horrors all their own. Working as a five-piece, Pylar open with “Menga” (10:57), their longest cut (immediate points) and establish a basis of amelodic, largely arrhythmic noise-jazz. There are more straightforward currents in the subsequent rumble and roll of “Megalitos” (10:33), and “Menhir” (9:37) would seem to draw both sides together before “Meteoros” (9:07) rounds out with an airy, horn-topped alternate-universe victory, but the whole of Pyedra remains informed by the way-off-kilter challenge it poses at the outset, and part of the thrill is making your way through with no idea of what’s coming next other than another extended song beginning with the letter ‘m.’ Will be too much for some, but Pylar’s bleak experimentalism assures cultish appeal worthy of those robes the band wears.

Domkraft, The End of Electricity

Proliferating a combination of speaker-punishing low-end riffs and post-rock-derived spaciousness, Swedish trio Domkraft debut on Magnetic Eye Records with the wholesale immersion of The End of Electricity and evoke heft no less substantial than their stated theme. They begin with their two longest tracks (which I guess is double points?) in “The Rift” and “Meltdown of the Orb,” and by the time they’re through them, bassist/vocalist Martin Wegeland, guitarist Martin Widholm and drummer Anders Dahlgren have already doled out a full LP’s worth of nod, which would seem to make what follows after the momentary breather of “Drones” in “Red Lead,” “All Come Hither” the shorter “Dustrider” and closer “We Will Follow” a bonus round – in which Domkraft also dominate. Because its heavy is so heavy and because Wegeland’s vocals arrive across the board as far-back, shouted echoes, it’s easy to lose sight of the ambience that goes with all that roll, but what ultimately gives The End of Electricity such character is that it creates as much of a world as it destroys.

Picaporters, El Horror Oculto

Back in 2013, Buenos Aires outfit Picaporters made an encouraging debut with Elefantes (review here). They’ve teased the follow-up, El Horror Oculto (on South American Sludge), over the last year-plus with several digital singles, but the album’s arrival hits with a distinct fleshing out of atmosphere, as heard on the grueling second cut “Diferentes Formas de Ostras” or the manner in which the centerpiece title-track departs from its raucous opening into a heavy-psychedelic meander, never to return, feeding off of the structure of “Humo Ancestral” directly before. An interlude “Etude 6” leads into the opening drift of “Ra,” but it’s a ruse as Picaporters offer some of the album’s most driving heavy rock in that cut’s second half, and close out with Sabbath-darkness-via-Zeppelin-noodling on “War is Over,” the trio coming together in a molten psychedelic doom that seems to draw from the various sides they’ve shown throughout without losing sight of pushing further in its summary.

Deamon’s Child, Scherben Müssen Sein

It would be a mistake to judge Deamon’s Child’s second full-length, Scherben Müssen Sein (on Zygmatron), by any single one of its tracks, as the German trio makes plain in the dramatic shift from the crushing sludge of “Zucker” into the raw punk thrust of the subsequent “Keine Zeit.” Elsewhere, they find funky footing before punking out once again in “Schweinehund, Kimm Tanz Mit Mir!” and rumble the outing to a finish consuming in its largesse on the 10-minute “Nichts,” so yes, as they follow-up their 2014 self-titled debut (review here), Deamon’s Child hold fast to the sense of the unhinged proffered therein while uniting their material through an intensity that comes across regardless of tempo or surrounding purpose. They are on the beat, not behind it, pushing forward always. That can make Scherben Müssen Sein difficult to keep track of as it moves swiftly through the blast of “Monster” and the manipulated samples of “In Kinderschuhen” toward that finale, but the mission here is far, far away from easy listening, so all the better.

Fungal Abyss, Bardo Abgrund Temple

Adansonia Records offers a bonus-track-laden revisit of the 2011 debut release, Bardo Abgrund Temple, from Seattle shroom-jammers Fungal Abyss, whose improvisational sensibility comes through the original four extended cuts with no diminishing of their otherworldly trip-out for the half-decade that’s passed since they first surfaced. Those looking for a US counterpart to European psych-improv outfits like Electric Moon or Øresund Space Collective – i.e., me – would do well to dig into opener “Arc of the Covenant” (20:12) or closer “Fungal DeBrist” (24:07) as a lead-in for the earlier-2016 follow-up, Karma Suture (review here), as well as their companion live outings, but whatever contextual approach a listener might want to take, the instrumental stretch of Bardo Abgrund Temple is a serenely heavy and meandering path to walk, given to bouts of space-rock thrust and long passages of low-end droner nod, as heard on the 10-minute “Timewave Zero,” turned on and duly ritualized in its swirl and far-off vocalizations. A reissue well-earned of a gracefully cosmic debut.

The Heads were so goddamn good at Roadburn. As any edition will, Roadburn 2015 had some truly spectacular performances, both that I saw and that I heard about later and regretted not seeing, but one I consider myself very, very fortunate to have caught was that of The Heads on the Main Stage at the 013. Pure, raw and complete psychedelic mastery, it was probably in the top three heavy psych sets I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a few in my time. Bands sound molten on studio recordings all the time, but for them to bring that vibe to the stage was, well, it was The Heads, and they absolutely killed it.

But as I say, Roadburn 2015 had more than several spectacular gigs. Anytime Eyehategod go anywhere, they leave an impact, and I also managed to see that Kandodo set, which had Robert Hampson of Loop sitting in on guitar — speaking of molten psychedelics — as well as White Hills and Bardspec, the latter which was just Ivar Bjørnson and Arve “Ice Dale” Isdal of Enslaved experimenting with different chords and manipulations on a laptop. Very cool vibe there too.

The latest batch of Roadburn 2015 audio streams has all those, plus Botanist, Brimstone, Darkher and Zoltan, which makes it quite a batch indeed. Enjoy:

04.11.15 — 04.00 — Late Sat./Early Sun. — Hotel

It was a misguided attempt at sleep that led me to bed after watching Coltsblood to round out my night. Didn’t work beyond the apparently standard three hours, which is what I’ve gotten give or take each night since Wednesday. When I lie down, my head hears parts of songs, David Eugene Edwards saying, “You don’t know me from Adam, down here in the lamp light,” or Sæþór Sæþórsson of Sólstafir‘s banjo in the back half of “Ótta,” among others. One day bleeds into the next. I dragged ass most of the afternoon and evening, to be perfectly honest, and given the tossing and turning I’ve just done and the fact that I’m up two hours before I set the alarm, I expect the trend to continue. Still, when you’re here, you have to keep going. There’s more to see and more to hear.

The weather, which had been gorgeous enough to boast some restorative effect of its own, has turned. I could just as easily call it “yesterday,” but for the purposes of review, I hope you’ll allow the editorial decision to keep current: “Today.” The weather turned today. As though it knew Undersmile, Urfaust, and Fields of the Nephilim were all on the bill and decided “enough of this sunny shit, let’s get down to business for real.” It cleared up later, but was still colder than it had been, and early in the afternoon, I looked outside at one point and saw waves of rain coming down. That was right after Coma Wall, which, you know, fair enough.

Playing as a five-piece with their usual two couples plus a cellist, the mostly-acoustic alter-ego of Undersmile started my day off at Stage01. I got there early, which you have to do, and I wasn’t the only one. Taz Corona-Brown, Olly Corona-Brown, Hel Sterne and Tom McKibbin, plus Tom Greenway on the cello spread out over the stage, McKibbin behind, pulling double-duty on drums and banjo. With Taz and Hel in dresses and quickly sliding into the sort of drawling dual vocals that are a trademark of both Coma Wall and Undersmile, there was a theatrical element to it, but the thickness of the atmosphere spoke for itself as they hit into “Summer” from their 2013 Wood & Wire split with, who else?, their other band. Off to the side of the stage, Olly sat on bass facing the others, kind of overseeing the whole thing with one leg crossed over the other. He looked managerial, but the low end filled the room well, and Coma Wall eased my way into the Roadburn Saturday better than I could’ve asked.

I’d still like to hear them take on “Rotten Apple” or “Don’t Follow” — something off Jar of Flies — which I think they’d nail in the vocals and really be able to darken the mood on, but wouldn’t you know they weren’t taking requests. Couldn’t argue, anyway. Over in the main hall, Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin were well into a live soundtrack to 1978’s Dawn of the Dead, which played on the big screen behind them, audio and all. I saw them here for a bit last year, and sure enough parts of the score were recognizable from that set as well as the movie. Like with Sólstafir‘s live soundtrack on Thursday, there were spaces without any music at all, but of course the difference is that Goblin also wrote the score originally, so to see them do it live to the film was something extra special.

Perhaps most impressive about it was the timing, which they nailed. Keeping pace to scene changes and the film’s quick cuts, they ran through various pieces and themes, the quick bursts for tension as everything goes to crap with all the zombies at the mall, the biker gang showing up and bringing Tom Savini, and so on. It’s been a while since I saw it, and I’d forgotten how many classic lines there are in the film, about Hell being full and the dead walking the earth, and “Operator dead, post abandoned.” There were some times where the balance of audio was lopsided one way or another — hard to match up a film and a live band on stage — but it smoothed out, and I can’t imagine it was many attendees’ first time seeing the movie. That said, I’ve never watched Suspiria, which Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin are scoring as part of the Afterburner, so who knows? When they were done, the four-piece came to the middle of the stage from their spread-out positions, two on one side, two on the other, the middle open to allow the eye to watch the movie, and took a bow. A few seconds before, the credits rolled past with their name listed as The Goblins. So be it.

Next up on the Main Stage was a second go for Enslaved. I tried before they went on to calculate in my head how many Enslaved-related sets there were this year in comparison to 2010, when they were the official artist-in-residence and did sets with offshoot projects like Trinacria and their collaboration with Shining. Between their set last night, the Skuggsjá collaboration with Wardruna that followed, guitarist Ivar Bjørnson ‘s BardSpec set and today, I think they might have 2010 beat. I’m not sure if Bjørnson curating with Wardruna‘s Einar “Kvitrafn” Selvik counts for double or anything — you’d have to get into percentages and it proved too much for my feeble brain to take. In any case, today’s Enslaved set focused much more on newer material. Fair after last night. The recently-issued In Times (review pending) featured heavily with “Thurisaz Dreaming,” “Building with Fire,” “In Times” and “Daylight,” but there was still room to dip back to 2001’s Monumension for “Convoys to Nothingness,” or 2003’s progressive turning point Below the Lights for “As Fire Swept Clean the Earth,” and a balance was struck between the older and newer.

Further distinguishing today from yesterday, though, were the guests. When they got to “Daylight,” bassist/vocalist Grutle Kjellson announced they’d be joined by Selvik, Aðalbjörn Tryggvason from Sólstafir and Per Wiberg, now in Candlemassbut known also for his work in Opeth and Spiritual Beggars. The three contributed on vocals at the beginning and end of the song, and Selvik came back out for a longer, soulful guest spot on “Convoys to Nothingness,” while Enslaved proper delivered again the kind of set that brought the crowd back from last night, “Isa” tossed in as a bonus and a cover of Led Zeppelin‘s “Immigrant Song” with more guest guitar included to add even more intrigue. It was not as intense as Friday had been, their newer material offering a more intricate but decidedly less raging style, but they handled it professionally, and seemed to be having as much fun as the audience while they ran through their second of the weekend’s two full sets. The Heads, who followed, are the official artists-in-residence this year, but Enslaved always seem to find welcome at Roadburn.

Particularly having missed The Heads when they played at Het Patronaat last night — Roadburn means hard choices — I knew I wanted to see them today. They were supposed to be here last year, and played in 2008, but with Walter doing live visuals and the four-piece of lead guitarist Paul Allen, guitarist/vocalist Simon Price, bassist Hugo Morgan and drummer Wayne Maskell (the latter three who played as Kandodo on Thursday and joined forces with Loop‘s Robert Hampson at Het Patronaat), it was unmissable. A righteous set boasted jam-laden takes on “Gnu,” “Legavaan Satellite,” “U33” and “Spliff Riff,” the effect positively molten as they enacted space rock supremacy and handed Roadburn its ass over the course of 75 minutes. For me, they were the day’s hypnotic highlight, and I don’t think I was the only one. The crowd cheered as they went into and out of jams, builds paying off and starting anew. As I stood in the back and watched, next two me, two dudes were arguing in German and a third turned around and told them, in accented English, “Please, no politics while The Heads are on.” All laughed. Peace on Earth and goodwill to all Roadburners.

As with Kandodo the other night, The Heads‘ set made me want to head over to the merch area and go, “Just give me everything,” though they have enough live albums over there that to try it and I’d be broke(r) in no time flat. I thought I had a pretty good idea of what to expect from them, knowing records like Everybody Knows We Got Nowhere, which was just recently reissued, At Last and their 1995 debut, Relaxing With…, but they were molten on stage, one song bleeding into the next in a consuming entirety that, even after they’d long since gone, kept the crowd howling. It was fucking awesome. I don’t know how many times I’ll get to see The Heads in my life, but I’m not likely to forget the first, in any case, and if I take nothing else away from Roadburn this year, I’ll take a new touchstone for heavy psych live performance. “It’s good, but is it The Heads good?” will prove a hard standard for most to meet.

Over in the Green Room, Black Anvil were finishing up a punishing set and I watched for a minute through the door as they pummeled away. Undersmile were on next in there, and I’ve been following them since their split with Caretaker in 2011 (review here), so I didn’t want to miss it. They have a new full-length out called Anhedonia, and while I’m a little heartbroken at not having heard it — I loved 2012’s lung-filling debut LP, Narwhal (review here), and thought I had a pretty good relationship with the band — it still seemed prudent to show up early for a dose of their grueling, claustrophobic-but-melodically-brilliant doom, especially as a crushing companion piece to Coma Wall earlier in the day, a sort of bookend with the same lineup minus Greenway‘s cello. They were heavy enough to feel the sound in your chest. I give McKibbin credit for being able to push the tones of Hel, Taz and Olly along, even at such a lumbering pace. By the sound alone, it seems like a task more suited to the crane outside working on the addition to the 013, but the drums do drive Undersmile‘s material forward, and they packed out the Green Room to the point where even the space to watch through the door was full. I felt equal parts lucky to see them, bummed I haven’t heard the new album, and glad I showed up early while they were setting up. It was quite an emotional rollercoaster. Maybe that’s why I had to come back to the hotel and go to sleep afterwards.

Or maybe I was just rendered unconscious by fucking Coltsblood who — holy shit — took Stage01, removed all its fillings and performed a root canal with a safety pin. It was fucking ridiculous. Hyperbole-worthy madness that even H.P. Lovecraft himself would stare at and be like, “Damn, that’s horrifying.” I watched the final few minutes of synth-heavy proggers Zoltan before the UK trio of bassist/vocalist John McNulty, guitarist Jemma McNulty and drummer Jay Plested (also of Black Magician, who played Het Patronaat at Roadburn 2013) went on, but god damn. Even before they started, as Jemma checked her guitar and John ran the line on his bass, you knew it was going to be filthy. Their 2014 full-length debut, Into the Unfathomable Abyss (review here), seemed all the more aptly named as they got underway, and even though John had some technical trouble early on, they shared a bottle of mead on stage and absolutely laid waste to the smaller of the rooms at the 013. I say in full knowledge of John‘s prior association with the band that they were the heaviest thing I’ve seen in that space since Conan made their Roadburn debut there in 2012. They were unbelievable.

And it became quite clear that they’ve earned some loyalty of fanbase as well. The front of Stage01 was crowded with UK types, one of whom took on the solemn duty of making sure that Coltsblood‘s incense (of which I was markedly downwind) stayed lit. Another dude next to me alerted John when the sound guy called for him to start checking his bass. This is a band that people are obviously taking very seriously. The deathly rumble of their extreme, dark, sludgy doom made earplugs a futile exercise, and especially in a one-two with Undersmile, they justified that reaction. With John shouting and growling into the mic while Plested slammed away behind and Jemma, entranced, riffed out a viscous, oil-thick morass, it made sense. I’d want to keep the incense lit too.

By the time I split out from Stage01, the air had more or less been driven out of the room. It was hot, sweaty, smelly — Roadburn means fart clouds — and suitably oppressive. Outside smelled like french fry grease from the food tent, but even that seemed like fresh air. I made my way back to the hotel and started to sort pictures out and get everything ready to review, but noticed after a few minutes that my head was down on the table and I couldn’t seem to pick it back up. I stared up at the laptop monitor for a little bit and decided to crawl into bed.

Wasn’t a crawl. More of a lurch. Either way, about three and a half hours later, I gave up the ghost and decided the middle of the night would be a perfect time to recount the day’s varying destructive encounters. Tomorrow — Sunday, which now that it’s after 06.00, I’m about ready to call the new “today” — is the Afterburner, also plenty busy with Lo-Pan and Abrahma and Argus and Bongripper, Anathema and The Golden Grass. Work on the final issue of the Weirdo Canyon Dispatch starts in about four hours and it will be here and gone before I know it. At least that’s how it usually seems to go.

It was a bummer this year when UK psych legends The Heads bowed out of their appearance at the Roadburn festival in Tilburg, the Netherlands, but if year-to-year Roadburn has proved anything, it’s never count out the fest’s ability to make up for any lost ground. Oh, you’ve got a volcano grounding flights so people can’t get to play their sets? Bring them over next year and give them better slots. The Heads can’t play in 2014? Well, bring them over in 2015 and make them artists in residence, playing multiple sets that include Paul Allen in the mix and come on the heels of a reissue of their landmark second album, Everybody Knows We Got Nowhere, on their own Rooster Records.

That reissue is due out Sept. 28 in deluxe form — it’s a 2CD or 5LP, take your pick — and for the 20th Roadburn, it’s hard to think of a better way for the festival’s spirit to be embodied than to bring back The Heads for another go in even grander fashion.

We’re elated to announce that The Heads (Allen, Maskell, Morgan, Price) will return to Roadburn, their spiritual home in Europe, to follow in the footsteps of Enslaved, Circle, Justin K Broadrick and Neige (Alcest) as Artist In Residence at the 2015 festival (the 20th edition), set for April 9 – 12 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands.

For this very rare appearance, Paul Allen (Prof) is back in on lead guitar, completing the circle. All of the band members have been busy, Simon, Wayne and Hugo with Kandodo, Paul with Anthroprophh, and in the past year Wayne and (now) Hugo have joined Loop.

Meanwhile, The Heads reissue campaign rolls onwards, with the re-release of their second album “Everybody Knows we Got Nowhere” on their label, Rooster Records.

As Artist In Residence, The Heads will play separate sets over the course of Roadburn 2015. The first will be Kandodo and Anthroprophh, followed by a one-off collaborative freakout with a fellow traveller (TBC).

The band’s residency will culminate in some serious wigged out riffmongery and the melding point of amped-up space rock with blistering krautrock workouts on the main stage on Saturday, April 11.

At last, The Heads will turn their amps up once more and they will pummel the ears and minds of all who bear witness!

The psychedelia fetish that led to reuniting Loop to play as headliners for Roadburn 2014 now enters its next phase with the announcement that The Heads will act as Artists in Residence, playing three separate sets over the course of the fest. The first will be Kandodo, a solo-project from The Heads‘ Simon Price, and that’s followed by two sets from The Heads proper, who’ll be joined for both by former Monster Magnet and Wellwater Conspiracy guitarist John McBain and for the second by Carlton Melton for a one-off collaborative freakout. One of those “you’ll only ever see this at Roadburn and be thankful everything is recorded” kind of situations. An endless flow of badassery continues.

In recent days, Conan, Locrian, True Widow and Freedom Hawk have also been added to the fest. For those fortunate enough to attend Roadburn in 2014, here’s who you’ll be relaxing with:

Beginning a new chapter of their ongoing legacy, Bristol’s psych rock band The Heads will follow in the footsteps of Enslaved, Circle, Justin K Broadrick and Neige (Alcest) as Artist In Residence at the 2014 Roadburn Festival.

With Heads’ members recording and releasing solo albums – Simon Price focusing on his solo project Kandodo (roping in Wayne Maskell and H O Morgan to augment the Kandodo live performance) and Paul Allen leaving the fold to focus on his solo venture ANTHROPROPH, it seemed that The Heads might be on a constant hiatus. However, rehearsals for Kandodo’s forthcoming live shows made the remaining trio – Simon, Hugo and Wayne – to reconsider The Heads as a band, and start working out new jams with a view to recording new Heads material purely as a studio project.

The band’s idea was to record some new tracks with various guest lead guitarists and re-connecting via mutual friends (having briefly met in Seattle in 2000 where they all shared the same bill) it was a proverbial lightbulb flash moment: ”Ask John McBain!” – a man who’s work with early Monster Magnet, was a major influence on the Heads in their formative years. Having recorded and toured with Hater and Wellwater Conspiracy and guested on recent Carlton Melton recordings, John McBain, now based in San Francisco, was immediately excited by the proposition and agreed to jump onto the ride.

Roadburn is The Heads’ spiritual home, and they are honoured to be asked to be the Artist in Residence and are excited to have John McBain join them for this and new recordings. As part of the Artist in Residence, Kandodo will perform as a three piece on Friday April 13th at Het Patronaat. The Heads will play a live set for the first time with John McBain on Saturday April 12th at the Main Stage. The Heads (ft. John McBain)’ residency will lead in to a collaboration with fellow psychedelic travellers Carlton Melton in a one-off Roadburn exclusive performance on Sunday April 13th at the Main Stage as well.

Carlton Melton will also be playing their own set at Roadburn (scheduled for Saturday April 12th)

Of course, the fact LOOP are headlining, well, that makes it even more amazing, over three days at Roadburn 2014.

Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt To Curate 2014 Roadburn Festival

We’re elated to announce that Mikael Åkerfeldt has agreed to curate Roadburn Festival 2014 on Friday, April 11th at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands. As curator, Mikael will personally select the bands for his special event, and play a headline show with Opeth, too!

Musically, Mikael has consistently pushed the boundaries. Over the last two decades, he guided Opeth‘s evolution, drawing the band out from under the doom-laden shade of occult-infused Scandinavian death metal and into a place in the sun as revered progressive rock / metal innovators, never once sacrificing the authentic spirit of previous artistic endeavours.

Mikael‘s steadfast devotion to aesthetic progression and perfection has proven ground-breaking and highly influential for an entire new generation of musicians practicing the art of progressive rock and psychedelica. At the same time, he has steadfastly honoured the mystical pioneers of late 1960s and early 1970s psychedelic folk, rock and prog — some of Opeth‘s albums are named after obscure psychedelic prog outfits or song titles — all of which is in perfect sync with Roadburn Festival.

Opeth‘s body of work is highly respected by Roadburn audiences, which makes Mikael the ideal choice to carry on the tradition that began in 2008 with David Tibet / Current 93, and continued with Neurosis, Tom G Warrior, Sunn 0))), Voivod and Jus Oborn / Electric Wizard.

“It’s with great honour that I accepted the invitation to be the curator for the 2014 Roadburn festival”, says Mikael Åkerfeldt, “I’m pretty damn far from being a professional booker / promotor, and I’ve never been part in choosing bands for an event apart from bands that Opeth has toured with. So this is a first for me, but I have to say I’m very excited.”

“I’ve reached out to a handful of my favourite bands from the past and present. As of now it looks like it will be an amazing musical event. Still brainstorming about possible bands for this glorious festival but I already know that I’m going to be like a kid at Christmas. It will be amazing! Plain and simple. Obviously Opeth will perform as well, but to be quite honest with you, our own performance doesn’t get me nearly as excited as the thought of experiencing the bands that have shown interest. It will be remarkable and memorable. A celebration, bitches!”

We are so excited and proud to be working with Mikael and to have Opeth headline his curated Roadburn 2014 event. It will truly be a celebration of progressive rock, psychedelic folk, the heavy 70s and beyond. We look forward to this collaboration and cannot wait to see how he will expand Roadburn Festival‘s musical horizons as well as explore more familiar territory from new angles. We will definitely be in for some artistic surprises.

Roadburn Festival 2014 will run for four days from Thursday, April 10th to Sunday, April 13th, 2014 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands.

By the time I was on Route 80 headed back east, I had assembled one of my finest record-shopping hauls to date. I said at the time it was no coincidence I was making a stopover in Toledo on my way out to Days of the Doomed III. Hitting Ramalama Records I regarded as an imperative. Flat, Black and Circular in Lansing, Michigan, was another, and adding Kalamazoo’s Green Light Records to the return voyage after the fest was like a bonus round of flipping through stacks that made the long ride to follow that much closer to tolerable.

All told, it was four separate hauls that made it back in the one full stack above. I haven’t had the chance yet to listen to everything — it last year’s acquisitions are anything to go by, it’s going to take a while — but I’ve had the full pile on my desk for the better part of two weeks now and it’s been a blast to make my way through, one album to the next to the next and so on.

Since I had so much fun buying this stuff, I thought I’d take an opportunity to nerd out and give a rundown of what I ended up with, where and how. Some of this has been reviewed, some not so much, but from Acid Witch to Whaler, it all seemed relevant one way or another. Screw it, I just like talking about buying albums.

As always, click any picture to enlarge. Let’s do this thing:

Ramalama Records — Toledo, OH

My basic plan for Ramalama was to pick up new albums and recent releases. More new stuff than used. Their used section is actually pretty good, for rock and metal both, but I had some CDs I wanted to buy of stuff that had been given to me digitally for review — have I mentioned yet today how much I think that’s horseshit? — and I knew doing it while supporting a place like Ramalama would take some of the sting out. Grabbing the Uncle Acid (review here) and Church of Misery (review here) was kind of a given, and along with the new Kylesa — I’ve been wanting to give a revisit since it was reviewed — and Anciients‘ Heart of Oak, which I meant to review so hard but was never able to make it happen, I picked up both of the Spitting Firelive albums by High on Fire — which could’ve been one CD so easily it’s almost funny and makes me wonder if there’s some contractual reasoning behind splitting them up — Circleby Amorphis (for whom I’m forever a nerd), and Voivod‘s Target Earth, which seems to be proving a point in how forward the guitars are though I’m not sure what that point might be. Out of the used section, I also managed to find two bootlegs: Demos 84 & 85from Celtic Frost, which I’m pretty sure is just a crappy rip of Morbid Taleswith some early live tracks added, and Clutch, Live 2002 Tour, which seemed like it was all one show until “A Shogun Named Marcus” came on, was twice as loud, and at least six years before 2002. Still cool to get live versions of “Cattle Car” and “Walpole Man” (here listed as “Warpole”), which were reworked into different songs by the time Blast Tyrantcame out, as well as a live version of the Jethro Tull cover “Cross Eyed Mary.” No complaints.

Flat, Black and Circular — Lansing, MI

The Heads’ 1995 debut, Relaxing With…might have been the find of the whole trip. It was released in a limited run 18 years ago (since reissued), but most importantly, the record itself fucking smokes. Killer heavy psych/space rock that even sounds ahead of its time for how it sounds dated. You can’t really see it in the pic above, but at the bottom of the mini-stack is a tin-box version of Dragging Down the Enforcerby Eyehategod offshoot Outlaw Order. I never bought it when it came out and figured if I was ever going to get a copy, this would be the one to get. The Stone Age ComplicationsEP by Queens of the Stone Age and Also Risingby SubArachnoid Space felt like good finds, and I grabbed another Amorphis just in case I wanted to listen on the way home, Iron Monkey and Slough Feg just because I didn’t have them yet and for a heavy ’70s fix, the self-titled Granicus and the second Warhorse album, Red Sea. Hoping for a funk fix, I snagged Fireby Ohio Players, and it’s decent but skirts a line with disco that takes away some of the weight in the rhythm section. Needless to say, I have a copy of Rootsby Curtis Mayfield currently on order and am anxiously attending its arrival. Flat, Black and Circular has yet to disappoint in the three or four times I’ve been fortunate enough to peruse its wares, and it was another one I was looking forward to hitting up. There’s always some treasure waiting.

Days of the Doomed III — Cudahy, WI

It might not look like so much, but the thing about it was that a lot of the bands playing the Days of the Doomed fest, I already had their stuff. I had hoped Beelzefuzz would have copies on hand of their forthcoming debut long-player, but no such luck. Still, I managed to do pretty well with what was available. Getting a copy of 2013’s Somnium Excessum directly from Dream Death was an experience that only underscored how lucky I felt to see the band live — they’d only had the vinyl at Roadburn when I asked bassist Rich Freund — and the reissue of The Gates of Slumber‘s 2004 debut, The Awakening, fell easily under the must-buy category. I also happened into a Thirst for Misery demo from Michigan classic metal/heavy rockers The Swill that stood out even before I put it on for its cover photo of a hoodie-wearing stormtrooper hoisting a can of PBR, and was glad to be given a copy of Sleestak‘s new Book of Hours EP, which I’ll be reviewing at some point in the coming weeks. Put those together with the gorgeous layout of Whaler‘s Deep Six and The Gates of Slumber‘s Scion-sponsored Stormcrow EP (which was free), and it was two days’ worth in quantity and quality. That Whaler record is a killer.

Green Light Music and Video — Kalamazoo, MI

The trip out of Wisconsin began sometime around 8:30AM. It was Sunday, and I had 700-plus miles to drive, but how many times a year do I get to pass through Kalamazoo? Right, once. So a stop seemed warranted, and when I walked into Green Light Music and Video and they were playing Queens of the Stone Age‘s Rated R, I knew I was in the right place. They had some choice vinyl and a few snazzy looking turntables, the kind of promo posters I didn’t know record labels still made, and a slew of old stickers — Roadsaw, Core, etc. — that let me know their affiliation to heavy rock was nothing new. An Acid Witch reissue, some Uriah Heep and Nick Cave were decent enough to happen upon — the Uriah Heep especially — and since it was on Man’s Ruin, I got Laced Candyby The Gaza Strippers, though it turned out to be a double. My favorite of the bunch, however, was Live at Colonia Dignidad by Finland’s Opium Warlords. I bought it because the description on the back cover promised a host of contradictions, including, “A celebration of psychosexual isolation” and “Quality time for a suicidal inner-space astrodoomonaut.” Turns out Opium Warlords is a solo-project for Sami “Albert Witchfinder” Hynninen (ex-Reverend Bizarre), and in what I can only assume is deliberate contrast to the whites and pinks of the album art, the music itself is experimental drone-doom, at times vicious and near-unlistenable, at other times minimal and atmospheric. It didn’t make for great driving music, but I dug it anyway, and Green Light made a fitting epilogue to a weekend of CD-buying excess I don’t anticipate being able to match for some time.

Ye olde Googlymaps lists the drive from Wisconsin to my humble river valley at a little over 15 hours with the stop-off in Michigan. I won’t say these records were much comfort to me when I lost over an hour sitting at a dead stop for bridge construction before getting 100 miles eastbound into Pennsylvania, but if anything was going to aid so helpless a situation, they probably would’ve done it.

I was outbid on eBay this evening for a copy of The Time is Now by British psych mavens The Heads, so it only seemed fitting to close the week out with “Spliff Riff.” Not the end of the world, but the disc (yeah, that’s right, a CD) was cheap even with the shipping. I’m sure you’ll be relieved to learn I didn’t let it ruin my night.

If the video info is to be believed, this version of “Spliff Riff” comes off the 2010 reissue of Relaxing With… and even watching it I think counts for more activity than I did pretty much all day. Not what you’d call a lot of movement in the afternoon, and the night hasn’t been much different, so there you go. Something upbeat will be just the thing for an active 11PM lifestyle. Ha. What a jerk.

Next week, as I said when I gave the numbers for October, I’ll have my interview with French heavy riffers Mars Red Sky. I’ll also have a streaming premiere of a new track from NYC doomers Agnosis that features Dave Sherman from Earthride on vocals — I don’t want to give away too much, but it’s a Pentagram cover and it rules — so stay tuned for that.

I’ll also have news on the Clamfight release on The Maple Forum (with some new music), and reviews of Negative Reaction, Poseidotica, Ehécatl, and if I can actually drag myself out of my office to get to it, the show Torche is playing in Manhattan on Wednesday. It’s been a couple weeks since I last saw a show, so I’m overdue, though to look at my calendar for the week after next, I’m already exhausted.

Oh wait, I was exhausted anyway. Funny how that works out. Really looking forward to this semester (and thus my time in grad school) being over. That’ll be a win. I’ll probably celebrate in December the same way I usually do: getting drunk alone and listening to Electric Wizard. Life’s not so bad.

And on that note, I bid you an excellent and safe weekend. Back at the crack of dawn on Monday (noon or so) with more wacky, zany good times. Cheers.